Regrets, letters, but no progress seen

VivianChu

AllenWan

HONG KONG (CBS.MW) - China's president on Tuesday maintained that an apology would help resolve a standoff that has kept U.S. crewmen in detention for more than week, while his American counterpart said that bilateral relations could be damaged if the crew isn't back home soon.

As the spy-plane standoff dragged into its 10th day, negotiators continued to haggle over the terms of a letter that would satisfy both the Americans and the Chinese and lead to the release of the 24 members of a U.S. navy surveillance plane being held in China.

Earlier today, U.S. diplomats had a 40-minute meeting with the crew members, their fourth visit since the U.S. plane made an emergency landing on Hainan. Bush said the crew members remain in high spirits. The U.S. has requested to see the crew twice daily.

On Tuesday, Beijing reiterated that an apology would be needed before it could even consider freeing the crew of a U.S. Navy surveillance plane now detained in China.

"The United States should apologize and respond appropriately. If they don't, it's going to make things difficult. If they do, it's going to help resolve the problem," said Zhu Bangzao, a spokesman for President Jiang Zemin, who was in Buenos Aires, Argentina as part of a tour of Latin America.

His comments came after President Bush cautioned that U.S.-Chinese relations would suffer if Beijing didn't soon release the crew now being held on the southeastern island of Hainan.

"All of us around this table understand diplomacy takes time," said Bush, as calls to get tougher with China continued to grow in Congress.

"Every day that goes by increases the potential that our relations with China will be damaged," President Bush told reporters during a Cabinet meeting on Monday. "We're working behind the scenes. We've got every diplomatic channel open ... Now it's time for our troops to come home so our relations will not be damaged."

Military takes hard line

Meanwhile, Chinese state-run media continued to insist that U.S. EP-3 II Aires spy plane was to blame for the mid-air collision, which led to the downing of a Chinese F-8 fighter. The Chinese pilot is presumed dead, though China's military is undertaking a massive search for him in the South China Sea.

"The American planes have created very dangerous circumstances by hiding in clouds, slowing down or suddenly speeding up, suddenly rising or falling in altitude or suddenly veering sharply in different directions," the official Xinhua news agency said.

However, CNN reported that the U.S. plane was on "autopilot" at the time of the collision, which would appear to contradict China's version of the events leading up to the crash.

Other media reports suggest that China's powerful military is pushing Beijing's more liberal-minded leaders for a harder line against the U.S.

On Monday, the Liberation Army Daily newspaper said China had the right to "fully and thoroughly investigate this entire incident, including the American military aircraft and the people in charge of it," and demanded an end to U.S. surveillance flights off China's coast.

As Beijing prepares for a leadership shake-up next year at a Communist Party congress, analysts suspect that Jiang and other civilian leaders are reluctant to oppose the military for fear of appearing weak.

Separately, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian weighed in, saying Monday he hoped the standoff would not force the U.S. to cut back on arms sales to the island, which Beijing regards as a renegade province. Beijing is loudly opposed to arms sales to Taiwan, and has warned Washington not to go ahead with the deal. See full story.

Trade may suffer

Beijing's insistence on an American apology could frustrate chances of a diplomatic resolution. Over the weekend, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that long-term ties between Washington and Beijing were at risk every day that the crew remains in Chinese custody, and that U.S. congressional delegations have canceled trips to China.

Vice President Dick Cheney echoed these sentiments, saying, "There is a risk to the long-term relationship with China with each day that it goes unresolved. It's not in our interest to have that happen nor is it in the interest of China to have that happen."

Their remarks underscore the importance of the U.S.-China trade relationship, and the possibility that commerce will suffer if Congress punishes Beijing for continuing to detain the crew.

Though Washington has said it won't apologize for what it says was an accident, President Bush has delivered a letter of condolence to the wife of the missing pilot.

Diplomats on both sides are also working on the fourth draft of a letter that would allow a face-saving way for both Beijing and Washington to end the crisis, without having to assign blame.

Three earlier versions of the letter were rejected by China, which is seeking precise language stating an apology from the U.S. But Washington insists that the incident was an accident and no apology will be issued.

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